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Article
"The Sugar'd Game before Thee": Gamification Revisited
Portal: Libraries and the Academy
  • Michael J Hughes, Trinity University
  • Jeff Lacy, Trinity University
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
4-1-2016
Abstract

Gamification, the application of game elements to nongame contexts, was recently a subject of great interest in the library literature, inspiring a number of articles. That interest tapered off in tandem with gamification’s wider decline, but signs point to its reemergence. Anticipating renewed interest in gamification, the authors reviewed the literature to determine what has—and has not—been examined by librarianship’s proponents of gamification. They found serious concerns regarding gamification’s practical and ethical limitations. Moreover, the authors believe that the purported benefits of gamification are more readily found in its progenitor—games.

DOI
10.1353/pla.2016.0019
Publisher
Johns Hopkins University Press
Citation Information
Hughes, M., & Lacy, C. J. (2016). "The sugar'd game before thee": Gamification revisited. Portal: Libraries and the Academy, 16(2), 311-326. https://doi.org/10.1353/pla.2016.0019